Certification processes

The safety certificate should be seen as part of a total, integrated system for managing health, safety and security at the sports ground.

While the local authority alone is responsible for issuing the safety certificate, safety cannot be achieved by one agency acting in isolation.

The local authority is under a statutory duty to consult with the chief officer of police and, where it is not itself that authority, with the fire authority and the building authority upon receipt of the application. It is good practice to consult the ambulance authority and to have regard to the views not merely of the certificate holder but also to those of any other regular users of the sports ground and those who live and operate in areas in close proximity to the sports ground and, where relevant, representative supporters of the sports club(s) concerned. It may also need to consult the authorities responsible for emergency planning and health and safety.

Application process

An application for a safety certificate for a designated sports ground must be in the form prescribed in the schedule to the Safety of Sports Grounds Regulations 1987 (the 1987 Regulations) or in a form of like effect.

The application should be accompanied by detailed information regarding the structure, proposed capacity and safety management systems. The local authority may, by notice in writing, require the applicant to submit within a reasonable period such information and plans as it considers necessary to enable it to determine what terms and conditions to include. Where a risk-based safety certificate is to be issued, this information should be set out in full in an Operations Manual.

Before a safety certificate for a designated sports ground may be issued, the local authority must determine whether the applicant is a “qualified” person. This is defined in the 1975 Act as a person who is likely to be in a position to prevent any contravention of the terms and conditions of a safety certificate.

Styles of safety certificate

This guidance outlines two styles of safety certificate:

1. Risk-based certificate

This style of certificate requires ground management to conduct risk assessments to identify the mitigating actions needed to secure reasonable safety at the ground, and then to produce an Operations Manual setting out how these will be put into practice.

The Operations Manual, once thoroughly checked, scrutinised and accepted by the local authority, is incorporated in a schedule to a relatively short safety certificate.

This is the preferred style of certificate.

2. Prescriptive certificate

This is often a lengthier document containing a list of prescriptive conditions that the ground management must comply with.

While risk-based safety certification is strongly recommended it is not mandatory for a local authority to move to this approach.

It is also possible to have a hybrid certificate that contains aspects of both risk-based and prescriptive certificates. For example, where there would normally be detailed conditions relating to medical or stewarding requirements the certificate instead refers to the plan the club has produced which is then appended to the certificate. A hybrid certificate can assist in the gradual progression from a prescriptive style to a risk-based certificate as it can be done in stages.

Whether the safety certificate issued for the ground is risk-based, prescriptive or a hybrid of the two, the certification process will demonstrate the ground’s commitment to providing a safe and welcoming environment for everyone who attends events there.

Format of a safety certificate

It is strongly recommended that local authorities issue all safety certificates in a modular form, as follows:

1. a short core section, containing a general statement of the duties laid upon the certificate holder and the safe capacity of the ground. In a risk-based certificate this would primarily consist of a requirement to undertake appropriate risk assessments, to set out in an Operations Manual how reasonable safety is to be maintained and a requirement to adhere to the Operations Manual. In a prescriptive certificate this would generally consist of a requirement to ensure that all terms and conditions within the certificate are complied with;
2. schedules, either comprising the Operations Manual or the detailed conditions inserted by the local authority setting out what the certificate holder must do to ensure reasonable safety at the ground;
3. annexes, setting out the specified activities to which the certificate applies and the capacities of the sports ground as a whole and of each element of spectator accommodation for each activity; and
4. appendices, including plans of the ground and other documents and sources of information referred to elsewhere in the certificate.

The safety certificate should be both easy to follow and complete within itself.

The terms and conditions with which the certificate holder must comply should be clear, specific to the sports ground concerned and achievable. They must not be unfair, illegal or physically impossible.

General provisions, such as outlining tasks that must be undertaken to the satisfaction of the local authority, the chief officer of police, the chief fire officer or any other person, should be avoided.

Similarly, a safety certificate should not require the holder to comply with a general recommendation in the Green Guide. It can, however, make reference to specific sections within the Guide.

Section 4 of the Guide to Safety Certification outlines detail on the contents of the certificate, including:

• Safe capacity
• Red-line boundary
• External factors
• Specific events
• Deviations from guidance
• Demountable structures